[Other Sport] F1 2025

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

I got the impression that the drivers had been told by their teams not to say much - seemed unusual for none of them to comment on such an incident.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Max got 3 penalty points as well. That means he's now just 1 point away from an automatic race ban. He'll be treading the penalty points tightrope for much of the rest of the season.

Max now on 11 points (but some drop off in a couple of races)

Next come Lawson with 5 and a handful with 4. Including Piastri. Norris is on 3.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Did I miss a Zak Brown departure?

Italian geezer now McLaren team principle ...

 

[Flounce]

Did I miss a Zak Brown departure?

Italian geezer now McLaren team principle ...

Brown is the CEO

 

[Audax]

Max now on 11 points (but some drop off in a couple of races)

Next come Lawson with 5 and a handful with 4. Including Piastri. Norris is on 3.

Yeah. He's on 11 now. Of those:

* 2 expire on the 30th June (Norris collision Austria 2024)
* 2 expire on the 27th October (Forcing Norris off track Mexico 2024)
* 1 expires 1st November (VSC delta time breach Brazil sprint 2024)
* 1 expires 1st December (Driving too slow on a cooldown lap in qually Qatar 2024)
* 2 expire 8th December (Piastri collision Abu Dhabi 2024)

That means he'll race with 11 points for Canada (15th June) and Austria (29 June). Assuming he avoids triggering a race ban, he'll then by on 9 points for the next 9 races.

Magnussen is the only driver to actually trigger a ban for accumulating 12 points. Many of those points were gained from deliberate actions in order to help Hulkenberg score points last year, and the ban gave Bearman one of his starts last year.

Historically, we've seen the stewards get very wary of issuing penalty points once a driver gets close to triggering a ban (IIRC it was Gasly a couple years back who walked the tightrope and avoided a ban despite having a couple of incidents where precedent suggested penalty points were due).

There could be controversy if Verstappen does something in the next 2 races that has precedent for a 1 point penalty and then doesn't receive it (eg a VSC delta breach etc).

 

[Audax]

Did I miss a Zak Brown departure?

Italian geezer now McLaren team principle ...

Brown's never been TP at McLaren IIRC. CEO, yes (and still is), but not TP. Andrea Stella is TP for a few years now, and before him Andreas Seidl was TP (and responsible for bringing Ricciardo to the team).

 

[Papa Lazarou]

These are a good article

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verstappen-un-probleme-que-la-f1-refuse-de-regler/10729399/

 

[Audax]

These are a good article

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verstappen-un-probleme-que-la-f1-refuse-de-regler/10729399/

Yep. It would be interested to find out what Verstappen is like when he's sim racing. I do wonder if the copious amount of sim racing he does sometimes creeps into his driving on track. What happened in Barcelona being a case-in-point ... it's the sort of thing that's not uncommon in sim racing. Tit-for-tat retaliation moves, running opponents wide ... even that extraordinary lap 1 overtake at Imola, as brilliant as it was, had all the hallmarks of sim racing. I've watched my 9 year old doing similar things on Xbox!

 

[AstroSloth]

Yep. It would be interested to find out what Verstappen is like when he's sim racing. I do wonder if the copious amount of sim racing he does sometimes creeps into his driving on track. What happened in Barcelona being a case-in-point ... it's the sort of thing that's not uncommon in sim racing. Tit-for-tat retaliation moves, running opponents wide ... even that extraordinary lap 1 overtake at Imola, as brilliant as it was, had all the hallmarks of sim racing. I've watched my 9 year old doing similar things on Xbox!

I wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes submitted some of his sim racing incidents as evidence lmao.

 

[Audax]

Few updates:

• Looks like Stroll has had successful surgery to repair issues that had arisen from his previous wrist-injury surgery and will be fit to race in his home race at Canada, after missing the Barcelona race.
• Bottas (or rather, his management team) appear to be very actively trying to find him a race seat for 2026. Rumours now floating of contacts with, variously, Alpine, Aston Martin, and Red Bull.
• Flavio Briatore regretting his Colapinto decision? Reports are that he's not happy with what Colapinto has achieved so far after the Barcelona weekend. 3 races into the 5 that Alpine announced (but Briatore has since distanced himself from despite being quoted in the Press Release) and there's now talk that he might not even survive that long.
• Red Bull have sought an exemption to get Lindblad a super licence while he's still 17 (normally requires 18+). Hearing to approve that (should be a formality, similar to Antonelli last year) is next week. That request has been in for a while, timing of it coming to light just as Verstappen is on the cusp of a potential race ban is coincidental.

 

[Audax]

Red Bull have sought an exemption to get Lindblad a super licence while he's still 17 (normally requires 18+). Hearing to approve that (should be a formality, similar to Antonelli last year) is next week. That request has been in for a while, timing of it coming to light just as Verstappen is on the cusp of a potential race ban is coincidental.

This is now confirmed.

 

[A1X]

The 2026 calendar was released today I see, no Imola but a Madrid GP as well as the Spanish GP in Barcelona (I assume that's another bloody street race)

 

[Audax]

The 2026 calendar was released today I see, no Imola but a Madrid GP as well as the Spanish GP in Barcelona (I assume that's another bloody street race)

Beat me to it (back-to-back-to-back in Zoom calls today).

Madrid is a hybrid circuit. Some of it is street, while there's a lengthy section that's purpose-built. Will see if I dig out a track map that's a) up to date, and b) not on X/Twitter and share here later.

2026 is, in theory, the final year for both Zandvoort and Barcelona. The other notable change here is Canada has been brought forward and Monaco pushed back, with the result being that the season now starts with a series of fly-away races, followed by an uninterrupted run within Europe, then Azerbaijan and a series of fly-aways to finish the season. In theory, in terms of travel required it will be the greenest calendar F1 has ever had.

Edit: Racefans article from earlier this year has a track map. Right hand side is purpose-built, left side is street.

Madrid to join F1 calendar in 2026, putting Catalunya's future in doubt

Formula 1 will race at a new street circuit in Madrid from 2026. The deal puts Catalunya's future as a grand prix venue in doubt.

www.racefans.net

And simulator lap below. Something tells me it won't be as flat-out as is suggested in this, especially the corner at 20s into the vid (where I expect track limits would be enforced strongly and slow it down a bit).

 

[Audax]

Looks like Stroll has had successful surgery to repair issues that had arisen from his previous wrist-injury surgery and will be fit to race in his home race at Canada, after missing the Barcelona race.

Now confirmed that Stroll will race in Canada.